Here’s What It Costs to Get John McAfee to Promote Your ICO

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How much does it cost to get a “crypto influencer” to promote your initial coin offering (ICO) on social media? The answer might surprise you.

Specific figures are rarely discussed publicly. ICO operators don’t like to reveal how much they are spending on marketing, while promoters often prefer to delay pricing discussions until after they have had the opportunity to make a sales pitch.

However, eccentric cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee has spent a lifetime bucking convention, and that has not changed now that he is operating McAfee Crypto Team, an ICO marketing service.

According to the company’s website, McAfee Crypto team is a full-service ICO promoter that offers whitepaper support, web optimization, marketing, and strategic advice.

While prices for many of the services are not listed, one that is will likely raise some eyebrows. Clients can pay $105,000 to have McAfee tweet about their ICO to his 811,000 followers — at least some of whom are likely bots.

That’s $437 per character, in case you were wondering.

“John McAfee’s tweets are by far the most influential in the field of cryptocurrency,” the website says. “Few leaders in the Crypto community can come close to Mr. McAfee’s reach into the heart of the cryptocurrency investor community.”

The website further makes the somewhat-dubious claim that this is the “least costly” way to market a cryptocurrency project.

“Given Mr. McAfee’s price of $105,000 per tweet, the cost per investor reached is the least costly of any marketing avenue in the Crypto world. Considering only his own followers, the cost per investor reached is $0.13. Considering his reach beyond his own followers, the cost per investor reached is frequently less than a penny. This is orders of magnitude less than any other approach,” the site claims.

Despite the hefty price tag, the company claims that so many projects have expressed interest that it has had to institute a $750 registration fee to prevent staff from being overwhelmed with applications.

Responding to critics, McAfee denied that he has “sold out” and said that he only promotes projects that he believes in.

“They say I sold out ’cause I use my tweets to promote, but the last 200 ICOs that lined up, we rejected 195 and chose 5,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that all applications undergo an audit. “I only promote what I believe.”

Josiah is a full-time journalist at CCN. A former ancient and medieval literature teacher, he has been reporting on cryptocurrency since 2014. He lives in rural North Carolina with his wife and children. Follow him on Twitter @Y3llowb1ackbird or email him directly at josiah.wilmoth(at)ccn.com.